"Big enough to be dogs?" said Fender. Black dogs, mistakenly taken as the giant Black rat, had caused several scares over the past few years.
"No, I'm sure they weren't," the girl said, looking directly at Fender.
They had long pointed heads, and their ears were long too, and pink.
Their tails ... their tails were horrible."
"Did the children see them?"
"Yes, and their teacher, Miss Bellingham. I didn't imagine them, Mr.
Fender."
"Where are the children now?" The Warden had a worried look on his face.
"I brought them back right away. Miss Bellingham's with them in Class Two. It's all right, they're not frightened; we played it down, told them they were coypus."
Fender grinned. "And they believed you?"
"Most of them did it was rather shady down there. It's not so unlikely anyway. Coypus live mainly in Norfolk and Suffolk, so it's not improbable that some should find their way south. A few of the children were a bit doubtful, though."
"I think I'll just go along and have a word with them," said Milton, rising. We don't want them spreading false rumours about the forest until we've checked this out."
We may have to stop people coming into the forest anyway," Fender said quickly.
"Stop them? That would be impossible, Mr. Fender. Have you any idea how wide an area the forest covers? And what about those who live here?"
They'd have to leave."
"Now just a moment, let's not jump the gun. Let's find out if these monsters really do exist first." Milton looked down apologetically at the girl. "Not that I doubt your word at all, Jenny. It's just that you may have been mistaken."
"I wasn't. They were rats and they were over two feet long." The tutor's face was set firm.
"Yes, well, that's what Mr. Fender is here to find out. I'll have to inform the Superintendent of the Forest, Mr. Fender. No doubt he will want to see you."
"Fine. But first I'd like you to take me back to this pond, Miss Hanmer." All eyes turned towards Fender.
"Do you think that's wise?" asked the Warden.
These ... animals, whether they're rats or not, haven't attacked anyone yet. I don't think there's any danger in going to the spot where Miss Hanmer last saw them they'll be well away by now. We might find some evidence which would help identify their species."
"It's up to you, Jenny," the Warden said.
"I'll take Mr. Fender there, I know the pond," Will volunteered.
"It's okay, Will," Jenny said. "I'll go. I can show Mr. Fender the exact place."
"I'll go with you then," the young man offered.
"No, you'll have to take charge of Jenny's class," said Milton. "I really don't want the children or their teacher to think there's a problem."
"But Miss Bellingham..." Jenny began to say, before Milton interrupted.
"I know Miss Bellingham quite well. I don't think her eyesight is all that reliable, do you?"
Jenny was lost for words for a moment. "Now just wait a minute..."
The Warden held up a restraining hand. "Please, Jenny, let me handle this. You go along with Mr. Fender, will you?"
The tutor stood, glanced at Fender, and walked from the room. Milton grinned feebly and Fender followed the girl.
She was halfway down the narrow gravel path before he caught up with her.
"Just wait a minute, Miss Hanmer," he said, taking her arm and bringing her to a halt. He selfconsciously dropped his hand when she pointedly looked down at it. "He is right, you know. These things can snowball into panic if they aren't handled carefully."
"But I saw them," she said resolutely.
"No one's doubting that. But it has to be checked out before the alarm bells go off."
She began striding down the path again and he kept pace, walking on the grass beside her.
"Look, ever since the Outbreak people have been panicking over real or imagined rats. Usually, the ones we've found have been normal, either Black or Brown, but no giants. More often than not, they've been animals of a completely different species. Bad light, optical illusions, over-nervous people all sorts of things account for the sightings. It's become as popular as spotting UFOs."
"I am not over-nervous. Nor do I imagine things. Nor do I believe in flying saucers."
Then you're a better person than I am."
"Possibly."
He grinned at the sarcasm. "Probably," he said.
She stopped and faced him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Pender..."
"Luke," he told her.
"Luke?"
"Short for Lucas."
"Lucas?" She couldn't help smiling.
"Not my fault. Parents. I was conceived on honeymoon in a place in lower Italy. Lucania."
She laughed aloud.
"I was lucky. They could have gone to Ramsgate." His smile broadened as she laughed again.
You sound like something out of a bad western," she said.
The way certain people regard my profession, I sometimes feel like it."
"Okay, I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't mean to get hurry with you."
"It's all right. You've had a shock."
Jenny frowned. "I meant it, you know, I wasn't mistaken."
"Let's check it out, then, eh?"
They began walking again and the tutor glanced down at Fender's feet.
You're going to get awfully wet."
"I've got boots in my car, and an old leather jacket. I have to be prepared to get mucky in this job." He pointed towards his Audi and they headed in that direction.
"How did you get into rats?" the girl asked as he opened the back of the car and reached in for a pair of hefty high-ankled boots.
"I wouldn't say I'm into them, exactly," he replied, removing his shoes and lacing up the boots. "It's just a living. I was an entomologist until an old friend of mine from Ratkill told me rodent control was the thing of the future. Big money, he told me, and all the vermin you can eat."
Her reserve was beginning to break down. People were usually wary of him because of his profession, even though he and his colleagues had become latter-day heroes due to the 'dangerous' work they carried out, but he sensed a natural wariness in this girl, as if she rarely took people at face value. Maybe she had learned not to the hard way.
"And is it? The thing of the future?" she asked.
He took off his coat and reached for the short, worn leather jacket inside the boot. Well, it's big business now, but I suppose the fear of rats will fade with time."
"It'll be a long while before people forget what happened in London."
"Yes, it will. But that was a freak. They'll forget it eventually."
"Unless it happens again."
He said nothing and lifted up a folded bundle of silver material that lay on the floor of the boot. He pulled out two pairs of large gloves made from the same tough fabric and handed one pair to the tutor who looked quizzically at him.